A City in the Fog

A thick fog was out one cold late afternoon along the Cerulean coast; it hung and swirled. One of Cerulean City's oldest structures, an ancient white lighthouse, stood atop a cliff, standing as a guardian to guide ships away from the perils of the rocks below.

Tracey Sketchit was the lighthouse's current keeper, the original one having retired some years back, leaving the position open. Tracey had been without much of a consistent job and took it since the pay was so good, plus it came with housing attached. There was also plenty of Pokémon that passed, and the occasional wandering Trainer that could keep him company or let him draw them and their Pokémon, a favorite pastime of his.

The black-haired man sighed, it was afternoon and he was bored as he finished sipping his tea. He grabbed his sketchbook, wandered upstairs and went outside to the balcony – the wind rustled his clothes and hair as he stood. "Right, anything that wants to be drawn…?" he thought aloud. Some migrating Wingull roosted nearby amongst the usual coast residents of Pidgeys, its evolutions, and the local Corsolas, Poliwags, and others that lived there. Tracey smiled, and began to scribble away as his Marill joined alongside him.

He continued his penmanship until a low, soft, feminine voice was heard, a kind of singing. Tracey's hand stopped, and rested the thick book against the wet, rusted railing. He scratched his chin thoughtfully whilst Marill blinked in wonderment, her mouth agape. He pointed a finger toward the ocean. "Y'know," said Tracey. "I really do think that they're out there." Marill looked over, eyebrow raised. "Well, you know what I mean." He leaned in and whispered. "Come on…I know that you can feel their presence as well…"

He did not get an answer, as Marill was looking out towards the fog covered ocean where the voice could be heard. Tracey looked down, only to see that down below, the Pokémon were looking the exact same way. The man blinked, but said nothing. He just followed their gaze and remained silent as they all peered into the wispy soup.

OoOoO

Later that afternoon, a young man of about his mid-twenties came slowly trudging along the dirt path from the nearby forest. With a Pikachu resting on his shoulder, the man walked with a carefree nature, his black shirt and pants were simple, but what was most strange of all was that he had a dark blue coat – almost like a cape – on him for warmth.

He seemed to wander aimlessly till he heard a sultry sound, it carried along the breeze. It was delicate, yet packed a pleasant spine chilling evocation with it. "Wow, that's some voice," he said, mildly awed. He looked to his Pikachu. "What do you say, buddy? Shall we follow this strange but alluring voice?"

"Pi Pikachu!" squeaked the mouse in agreement. Ash hummed in agreement.

He followed against the sea breeze till he reached the water – his feet stopping as soon as he felt rock beneath him. He looked out across the rocks where the sea met land. "So this is Cerulean City?" he said. "Well, the air is salty enough for it." He shivered in the breeze, and began to notice that the light was fading. "Almost nightfall…can't stay out here. Brr…" Pikachu whimpered and buried himself in his Master's cloak. He looked around and saw the giant lighthouse to his left, behind it stood the city itself. Slowly and carefully, he began to trudge toward it.

A short walk later he reached the city and found his way to an inn. A rather shabby looking place built out of grey stone. The raven haired man wandered in and tapped the bell for service. "Coming!" a voice yelled. A girl who looked barely past nineteen came sprinting from a room behind the counter before she nearly impaled herself on the wooden desk; her hands saved her as they reached out to stop her from the accident. She had dark blue hair which flowed all over her face from the inertia.

"Careful," chuckled the traveler. "It's not a race."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," said the girl as she pushed her hair back into place behind her ears. "Right…welcome to the Cerulean Playhouse Inn, I'm your host, Dawn Berlitz! How may I help you today?"

"Cerulean…P-playhouse…Inn…? Eh?"

"Pi pika…"

"Cerulean Playhouse Inn," repeated Dawn. "This was once the site of an old theater, some of the old framework was used to create this place a hundred years ago. As a gesture of hospitality I love to entertain the guests daily with a Pokémon performance. You know, like a Pokémon Contest."

"Ah, I see, sounds great," the man said.

"Good to hear!" chirped Dawn with a sway of her head. "Anyways, what's your need here?"

"I'd like a room, stay time indeterminate," he said. "I'm Ash by the way, Ash Ketchum."

"Ash Ketchum," repeated Dawn as she scribbled his name down. "Um, why 'indeterminate'?" Ash flinched.

"Just trust me. I'm a little in the dark on the matter myself."

"I think I get it…" said Dawn with a nervous chuckle. They continued the paperwork and Dawn soon finished up. "Right," she said, holding a hand out to the doorway on her left, "if you'll just follow me sir, we'll be at your room."

Ash followed her, but just as Dawn began to go up the stairs, a man with blonde hair suddenly stomped into view on the upstairs landing and looked down at Ash grimly. "Hey, what's the big idea?!" he shouted. Dawn pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

"Barry, he's a customer, he's not here to steal your glory as a Pokémon trainer or…"

"Oh yeah!? Well, if he is after my glory then I'm tripling his fine!"

Ash blinked. "Triple my fine? I'm broke enough as it is…"

"Oh no, Mr. Black Hair show off! You're not stealing any of my glory. Me and Empoleon shall crush you, and—"

"Barry!" shouted Dawn. "As if anything like that has to do with anything!"

"Oh yes it does!" replied Barry with an accusatory finger. He slammed the railing with both of his hands, fumes practically roaring from his nostrils. "You listen here, tough guy! This establishment has tons of trainers staying here overnight every day! They're in, they're out. Take the hint! We don't have the room to house some dude who says he doesn't know how long he'll be here! Honestly…!" And he stormed off.

Dawn gritted her teeth. "Ignore him," she said as looked back at him. Ash could only grimace at her unsubtle twitching eyebrow. He could only imagine that what that 'Barry' had said wasn't close to the tip of Dawn's iceberg.

"R-right…"

Dawn said no more on the matter and lead – with noticeable irritation – Ash into his assigned room. She was about to leave when…

"Excuse, Dawn?" began Ash. "But may I ask a question of you?"

"Sure thing – what do you need to know?"

"Well, to start. How long have you been here?"

"For over half of my life," replied Dawn. "My Mother and I moved here from the Sinnoh region to have a fresher start."

"I see. Then tell me – what do you know of the Cerulean Sirens?"

Dawn's originally polite countenance fell to an uncertain one. "The Sirens…?" she muttered. "Not sure in all honesty. But every time a major fog comes rolling in we hear these strange sounds coming from the ocean. There have been rumors, you see, about how the Sirens use the fog to sneak about and intermingle with us humans once we've gone and lost ourselves in the soup."

"Yeah, it would seem right for them given their descriptions," said Ash. "But, tell me, do you believe they exist?"

The bluenette tapped her chin in thought. "I guess. Though I'd much rather meet one than go on believing simple fishermen's tales."

Ash nodded. "Just curious," he added, by way of deflecting any questions about why he had asked. "Good night."

"Good night," said Dawn with a bow. She turned back and closed his door. Once Ash was sure she was out of earshot, he walked to the window and opened it. For the second time that evening, a strange melody filled the air – soft yet powerful, calming yet unnerving.

OoOoO

It won't lift for anytime soon it seems, thought Tracey as he stared in boredom out of the observation window the tune the only thing keeping him amused – he then blew the foghorn once again before stepping out to the balcony. When he did he heard strange splashing sounds from below. He scanned the area but saw nothing. Must be a Pokémon…

It was only the fog that covered the mysterious singer…

Beneath the fog and cold waves a few figures swam up to the surface and looked around. Soon enough they heard the same low song that Ash and Tracey were listening to, they nodded to each other before diving back under the water.

Deep in the water some few miles away from Cerulean they approached a strange civilization made of stone bricks. The two figures swam towards the largest building, protected by two other figures holding tridents, one of whom gave the scouts a stern look before nodding. Inside, the scouts approached a brown-haired figure whose tail flicked back and forth, arms crossed in front of his chest in impatience.

"We overheard the enemy singing out again," said one, "and as usual, it was directed toward the ape primitives."

The brown hair figure's frown deepened. "Ever the persistent ones, those harpies," he sneered. "I swear, when we're done we won't ever have to hear our vocals ever directed at those despicable apes ever again!"

OoOoO

" 'Well why shouldn't we?!' is what we're obviously yelling to them," huffed a pink-haired figure. She was talking to another one with blue hair, who was sitting next to one with orange hair. "They deserve it, the bratty troublemakers."

"It's all changed since our old ruler passed away," the orange head said with a sigh. "Speaking on the topic of 'why shouldn't we' – where's Daisy?"

"You called?" said the woman in question. A beautiful blond woman swam elegantly in, her appearance above all else being even more beautiful than her three sisters'. But to call them just humans would be inaccurate – they were Sirens, or to put more simply with terms associated with fantasy, mermaids.

"Yes actually," put in Lily, the pink-haired one. "We were actually wondering where in you'd gone."

Daisy swam up the table they were sitting around and grabbed a piece of coral and took a bite out of it. "Just out singing," she said nonchalantly.

"Singing where?" asked Violet.

"Y'know, out on the ocean," replied Daisy as she avoided eye contact. She began chewing more on her food, this time far more aggressively.

"You were out singing for that lighthouse guy, weren't you?" said Lily finally. Daisy choked on a piece of the coral fruit. "Knew it!" she sang victoriously, pumping a fist into the water.

"That's dangerous, you know," said Misty, the orange-haired, and youngest of the four sisters. "You're lucky the fogs about. Why do you risk yourself so much just to sing for a guy?"

Daisy recovered from her cough. "You wouldn't understand, Misty," she said.

"I think I understand that we're in enough hot water as it is with the rest of our kind!"

"But," said Violet pointedly, "you did join us willingly in our stand against Rudy when he became ruler."

"Y-yes, I did," said Misty. She looked to Daisy. "I'm just worried about your safety. Not because of the humans but just in case any of Rudy's thugs goes and finds you."

"Ha ha! Misty, you worry too much," said Daisy. "Those silly Sirens wouldn't go near the human's settlement unless they were ordered to, and we're settled too close to them to make threatening us an impossible reality."

"The pure amount of phobia they have is as sensible as staring into the sun," Misty muttered. She then yawned. "Well, I'm tired, so I'll be going to sleep. Come along, Goldeen. Night all." Her Pokémon partner opened her eyes and quickly swam after her short-haired mistress. Daisy watched her disappear into the cave.

"I think," she said to no one in particularly, "that that girl could do with something new in her life."

OoOoO

"It's quite easy, Dawn," grumbled Barry as they walked through the hallways. "Just go up to him, say 'Thank you for your partro-patro…PATRONAGE, at Cerulean Playhouse Inn, but we only do one-night stays, so please have yourself a good stay in this city, now get out!' It's easy!"

"Oh cool off," sneered Dawn. "What's the harm in him staying for more than one night?"

"It's the principle," said Barry pompously. "We serve travelers, not tourists."

"Ash is hardly a tourist," said Dawn evenly.

"Oh, taking his side now are we?"

"Not even close. I just don't think that there is any harm in letting him stay. Besides, it's hardly written down that we only serve for one night here."

Barry didn't immediately reply, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned towards another corridor. He huffed heavily. "You're the one defending him."

"Only because he's a nice man, unlike you! Your antagonism to him last night was hardly warranted."

"Oh just do what you want," sighed Barry, walking away.

"Honestly," said Dawn aside before looking in Barry's direction. "I swear, I could make a living out of dealing with stubborn men like you!"

Just up above, Ash had finished getting ready for his day, in his hand was a strange book, the condition of its binding suggested it was of elderly age. With the book safely in his arms, and Pikachu on the opposite shoulder, he arrived at the top of the second floor landing in time to hear the last part of Dawn and Barry's spat.

"Ugh!" shouted Dawn in frustration. "Stubborn brat, he should be thankful I even give him as many chances to keep working here as I do!"

"Hah!" said Ash suddenly. Dawn blinked in surprise and whirled round to see Ash beginning to go down the stairs. "Tell us how you really feel."

Dawn sighed. "He's only in it for the money, and his work effort is subpar, but he's a decent hustle in the case of ruffians showing up." She paused and noticed the strange book. "Oh, what's that about?"

"This? Ah, just some research I plan on looking into."

"Is it to do with Sirens?"

"Um – er – well…" Ash slowly crept up to Dawn and leaned in. "Well, yes, it does actually."

"Wow! Really?! Or are you just pulling an elaborate prank because you think of me as someone who'd believe anything?!"

"What? No, no, no, not at all!" cried Ash in alarm as he stepped back.

Dawn quickly calmed down. Ash could only marvel at the wonder of a woman's mood swings. "All right then – prove you're actually on to something."

Ash sighed and beckoned her closer. He then held out a hand and it began to glow in a blue color in a shape that Dawn could only describe as a ball, then, he made it disappear. Before she could speak, he spoke up. "I'm an Aura user," he said in a hushed tone. "The society I belong to recently has felt some strange spikes and stagnations coming from this area. However, we really don't know what's causing them since those signals are coming from way out on the ocean. What we suspect is that the rumors going around about the actual existence of the Sirens might just be true."

"So…they might actually exist?"

"Might is an accurate word for this situation," he replied. "The legends spoke of them being able to harness a great power and channel it through various methods with their advanced technology that's incomparable to our very own. But…" he added with uncertainty, "again, we just don't have any confirmation."

Dawn mulled the situation over, all of the info she got was quite shocking to her and she was struggling to comprehend it all, but he said it all with such conviction that she fully believed it. "So, what you're saying is, is that there appears to be trouble, but it's only a theory?"

"Yeah, it's only an idea. I have no idea until I finally know what's happening."

"Wait though!" said Dawn as realization came to her. "If we're in danger, shouldn't the citizens know about it…?"

"Shh! Shh!" said Ash sharply. He brought a finger to Dawn's lips. "As I said, it's just an idea. No one else can know why I'm here, at least not until I know exactly what's going on here. Dawn," he added quietly. "Can I trust you to not say a word about this anyone else? Extra people knowing what's happening might cause more trouble than necessary." Dawn's eyes widened, Ash didn't seem to be playing light anymore, his look was extremely serious – whatever it was that he was looking into, it wasn't a dead end. She nodded affirmatively. "Good." Ash smiled, and then quickly took his leave into the misty city.

OoOoO

"…Wake up! Wake up!" came a prattling voice on the other end of her seaweed curtain. Misty groaned and got up from the shell that was her bed.

"What do you need, Daisy?" she asked sleepily.

"It's already eight o'clock actually!" said Daisy cheerily. "So, like, it's you who should've been up a while ago missy. Anyways…!" Daisy then invited herself into her sister's room. "I was, like, thinking that you could do with a routine change, so come with me!"

"Go with you where…?"

"Oh, just around the reef. It's been too long since we've spent time together – you really got to wonder where time flies."

"That time took flight as a result of you disappearing of somewhere quite regularly recently…" said Misty sarcastically.

"Oh lighten up," sang Daisy, and swam off with me reluctantly following.

Along the waves, Daisy saw a male Siren swimming a few yards away from where she and Misty were travelling. The male frowned when he saw the two approaching. "And just where are you two ladies off to at this hour?" he asked cautiously.

"Morning to you too, Sean," replied Daisy crisply.

"You've got some nerve being snippy," grumbled Sean. "You're the ones who went and defected – your pitiful resistance group lives pathetically. Honestly, your opinions are all insane."

"I don't recall asking for your opinions at all," answered Daisy. "I'll ask when I want an idiot's position." And she quickly swam off.

"Nicely handled," praised Misty when they were out of earshot.

"You get used to it when you're on the defending side," said Daisy with a smile. "Anyways, this is your surprise." She pointed towards the surface of the ocean, though the light looked more fractured than usual.

"Huh, a storm might be passing by," observed Misty.

"Yeah, I felt it in the waves," added Daisy. "But all the same, you'll really like what I'm about to show you." Before Misty could voice an opinion, Daisy grabbed her by the wrist and pull her up to the surface, the area they were was covered with rocks, one of which the blonde rested herself against.

"Ugh! The surface?" coughed Misty. "What is it from here that you'd want me to see?"

"Take a look." The orange head opened her eyes and gazed upwards to what Daisy had been pointing to and gasped. It was the lighthouse, standing tall and somewhat menacingly over the washed clifftops and swirling fog.

"The lighthouse?!" she spluttered. "Wait a minute, what are you showing me a human structure for?"

"One – I think it's beautiful, two – you've never seen it yourself before, and three – take a look up there…" said Daisy, whose tone went surprisingly soft on her third statement.

"What am I looking for?"

Her older sister pointed a finger at the male figure with black hair atop the balcony. "Him," she said dreamily. "Oh…what a looker that one is. His name is Tracey. I've been observing his movements for a while recently."

"So this is where you've been off to all this time?"

"Yeah, it's quite out of the way from Rudy and his goons, and no one else really passes through here except for Pokémon, so I can observe him in peace." Misty blinked, clearly not understanding. "I think he's sweet," went on Daisy. "You know what he does aside from keeping that light going? He watches the Pokémon, closely at that, he even draws them in that weird book of his…"

"Draws?"

"Yes. He talks often to that Marill of his, they seem awfully close. He calls himself a Pokémon Watcher. Although…I wish I could get the chance to see his work up close."

Misty gulped. "You wouldn't risk approaching him, would you?"

"What, are you suddenly as afraid of the humans as the rest of those 'Magikarp' we call our kind as well?"

"N-no…" said Misty quietly as she sunk under the water, her sister following. "I'm just scared for your sakes."

Daisy smiled gently at her little sister. "Don't worry, Misty, I've been careful, and if my observations are anything to go by, he's curious about us as well. Well," she added with a mischievous snicker, "mostly in me. I am the one who has been singing for him recently. Ooh! I know, I could sing right now actually." Daisy immediately popped her head out the water. Misty didn't know why, but in reflex she dove further down into the water.

She watched as Daisy began to sing. They were both so preoccupied that failed to notice that Misty's Goldeen was beginning to panic. The nearby weeds were swaying furiously, and the Pokémon began to scatter – the girls were oblivious to it.

OoOoO

Ash made his way through the fog, all the areas closest to the water in town was packed with people either at market or fishing. He wanted to begin his search by investigating places where he had heard the strange song being sung the night before. The book told him that often with Sirens the first sign of them being about would be fog. Deducing from that, he decided to head back to the lighthouse where the fog had first begun to appear and where the voice originated.

He stepped cautiously through before stepping up to the door and rapped loudly. "Ahoy! Ahoy, Keeper! Anybody home?!" he yelled.

Tracey was just putting some finishing touches on a drawing of his when Ash's loud knocks disturbed him, luckily, he didn't ruin his own work. "Who the devil could that be?" he said in surprise.

"Marill, mar?"

Tracey didn't give in a second thought and hurried downstairs where he found Ash. Tracey couldn't help but of him as a strange man.

"Ah, hello Keeper," said Ash as he let himself into the building. "Hope you don't mind; could do with getting out of the winds."

"Mm, those winds are bit fierce," said Tracey. "But anyways, who are you and what do you want? Almost no one from Cerulean visits the lighthouse, except Mrs. Meyers to deliver me bread."

"Well I'm not from around here, I'm a traveler," said Ash as he aired out his coat. "I'm Ash, Ash Ketchum."

"Sketchit, Tracey Sketchit."

"A pleasure, Tracey, and sorry for the intrusion but I've come to ask something of you."

Tracey raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

"Heard any…strange songs lately?"

"Oh, well yes I have," said Tracey, shocked yet pleased at having someone aside from his Pokémon to talk to about the strange occurrences. "It happens almost every day actually. Just…comes randomly, fog or not. Whoever she is, she has a fantastic voice."

"I can imagine," said Ash grinning. "I overheard the tune when I passed by last night. Tell me, do you think it's a Siren?"

Tracey was astonished! "Y-you believe they exist?"

"Well, do you?" asked Ash. "You're the one hearing these miraculous songs."

"I know, and I do believe in them," answered Tracey confidently. "Thing is though, I've never seen one. But what else is there to explain why those songs keep coming from the ocean?"

His visitor only shrugged, before something from the window caught his eye. "Well, who knows?" he answered. "But oh man, look at that."

Coming in from the sea were huge waves. "Uh oh," said Tracey, though he sounded calmer than he should have. "Better keep an eye out – there could be fishermen out on the bay, I only hope they aren't getting caught in that." Before Ash could speak, Tracey dashed back upstairs. Ash grimaced as he heard the waves.

"Come on," he said to Pikachu, and dashed out the door. A freak wind passed through, blowing up sea water and tiny pebbles, the waves crashing fiercely against the rocks. Ash head a high pitched scream suddenly and followed it.

OoOoO

Misty was panicked as the icy water swirled around her, she couldn't navigate through all the confusion. Suddenly, she hit a rock face; she thought for a moment that it was a cliff and that she was safe. She held Goldeen and breathed a sigh of relief, then suddenly a large wave came and Misty shrieked as the force hit her and pushed her up the slick rock, she dragged over the jagged structure, her nerves firing off and she landed tail first into the hard rock surface on the other side. "Ow!" she wailed loudly.

She took in her surroundings as soon as the chaos stopped – there was only enough water to submerge her bottom half, leaving her torso exposed to the earth. "Oh no," she gasped. She had been forced into a tiny cove, the rock in front too big to climb. Her tail was bruised and she saw it was beginning to swell – she winced at the sight. She was worried – she was stuck!

Her heart rate began to go up. She was trapped, alone and with Daisy nowhere in sight. "Oh Goldeen," she whispered in fright. "What if a human finds me…?"

Ash jogged as quickly and as safely as he could over the dangerous terrain, whoever was in trouble needed to get out of the storm and fast. He hurried around the stones before halting with a loud screech of his heels.

Splashing before him in a pool of water was a figure that looked like a girl in a swimsuit, her hair orange went only as far as her shoulders. But most shocking for him of all was…

"A…tail?" he said aloud. It was large, green, made of scales, and pretty.

Misty squirmed round and stared in fright, any cry for help lost in her throat like a cornered Pokémon.

Ash found his voice. "You…" he began. "You're a Siren, right?"